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Published: January 24th 2010
Wow... how time has passed! I'm so behind on this blog business that it's become quite daunting thinking about writing about the past month! This one will no doubt be a quick whizz at the events of the festive season and will ease me into writing again for the weeks that followed - which for travelling adventures and visual sights, will be far more interesting!
I left you last in Palolem after the nightmare sleeper bus journey from Hampi, Anna slowly recovered over the week in time to see Laura B arrive on Christmas eve! We had to take two buses to the airport - buses normally going llike a bat out of hell for no reason other than the driver is impatient... but because we wanted to be at the airport by a certain time, standing at arrivals, santa hats on and home made banner "Welcome to India Laura B", the second bus of course was THE slowest thing on the road, cows plodded faster! Even the ticket collector was having a go at the driver... who was quite content going 10mph on the highway! So we missed Laura by a millisecond! Oh well, we wrapped the banner around her with a hug and planted a santa hat on her head and headed back to our little palace of a beach hut! Ready for the fun filled antics to start that night with an open air party on neptunes point- Dj's in the front, sea to the side. Perfect! Christmas day itself was spent like none other- sunbathing! Very weird! Very very weird... and very non-christmassy! Speaking with the taylor clan on skype was the best present this year,m seeing them all in their pj's around the breakfast table... the usual eggs and ham settling in their tummy baskets. Amy and Guy like excited children... I yearned to be there, I really did. But alas I soothed the homesickness with more beach and a christmas dinner in the evening- Indian style roast chook and veg, alongside a jacket potatoe, prawns for starters, and mince pies for pudding! All washed down wityh a lovely bottle of red... we went to bed full, content and with me sending all my love home!
Boxing day was much the same, the three of us playing our own beach game creation "beach on fire"... a selection of tasks including 'who can hold a yoga position the longest', 'pictionary in the sand' 'humdinger' and 'first to dunk their head in the water twice and get back to sand'.... just a few tasters for you! We spent the evening dancing away at a silent disco.... you listen to music via headphones! Very surreal, a group of people dancing away to a choice of 3 channels of music... so when you take the headphones off, you just see a mixture of dances to nothing and alot of shouting! All down to the laws of noise here.... sound off by 10pm! Was a lovely few days, not quite christmas and the bout of indian tummy and my share of bed bug bites on boxing day was an added bonus.... definitely nothing compared to a Taylor Christmas!
We spent a few more days on palolem, takinga day visit to Patnem beach which was alot quieter and not so garish with all the restaurants and lights. Come Tuesday we took a number of buses to get us up to the next beach- Arumbol, where we found the last beach hut and celebrated New years! Us girlies got ourselves glittered up and joined a few others from our beach hut community for dinner on the beach itself- a big ole red snapper! Unfortuantely the service was on slow time and so we didn;t actually get served till 11.30pm... by which time the tide had risen to under our tabel, due to the full moon and so we wolfed down the fish, dried off our feet and ran to the bar up the beach to make it with a minute to spare before midnight! Whislt eating a group of buzzing Americans bombarded our table with their festive joy and so we met them for midnight and spent the rest of the evening with them prancing along the beach in the glow of the full moon! It was so bright, so big and so close it was like someone had turned on a floodlight for the night all along the coast! The evening was magical... Epic as we all claimed it. All of us chatting, dancing and drinking away. We saw in the sun for the first of January and had our first swim in the warm indian sea to welcome the new year! Epic beyond words. One of the best New years I think I've ever had, no suprise really! New years day was a bit of a wash out with tiredness, but did get to speak to the birthday boy my beautiful daddy T! Again a pang of homesickness to be on the beach back home for the walk.... but I guess at least we were both on beaches under the new years sun!
We spent the rest of the weekend on Arumbol, hanging out with 'The Americans'! A truly beautiful and inspiring bunch.... their professions speaking volumes - one a travel writer for the lonely planet, one an actor, one an editor for the massive channel E! and last but not least a presenter and writor for national geographic. Ridiculous, and all massive bundles of fun and joy... you couldn;t help but have fun in their company. Although a few early nights were needed to catch up!
We said our goodbyes to the boys and to Arumbol and headed back down to Gokarna for some chill time! This time spending a week on Om beach, as supposed to Kudle... just to mix it up abit for Anna and I. The journey there was long winded, bus after bus and then a crowded train to Gokarna town.... we arrived at the station, to have hoards of people getting on - Indians definitely don't have the same etiquette as we do for getting on and off vehicles "Let people off first, then there will be room for you". No! Our seats were being claimed by people before we were even out of them, then by the time we'd got our heavy bags down and fought our way to the door the train had started pulling away from the station- our stop. Now I must admit I did think "Jump!" but the knowledge of Anna and Laura being behind me and the fact the train was MOVING, thought 'maybe not'.... however, the weight of my big bag in front, the previous thought of jumping still fresh and pulling at me.... I plopped off the train, briefly landing on two feet and then stacking it across the platform. My elbow taking the brunt of it - a nice ole pussey graize for the week, preventing me from swimming incase of infection. Joy! To top it all off Anna had my ticket, who was on her way to the next station with Laura and so the station master tried to charge me 5000 rupees... like 75 pound for jumping the train without a ticket! i kicked up a stink and so he wanted 270 rupees for a new ticket, I'd paid 20 for my one! It all got abit much, not knowing where the girls were, being told I had to pay fines and such, my body yelling at me with the bruises and so yes, I had a cry... which worked to my favour. The ticket master felt so uncomfortable with me crying he told me to just go, saying he;d heard from the other station that the girls were on a bus to the town! I jumped in a cab and was on my way, but he'd lied to get me out his hair and the girls were in fact on their way to the station.... after a few more post shock tears, we were reunited at Om beach and settled into possibly THE smallest beach hut we could find. The 3 of us and all our bags just fitting in... getting dressed was done one at a time, and other tasks done outside.
So our week on Om Beach was pretty relaxing, well for me at least after my Indiana Jones arrival! But the week for the girls less so - with both of them getting horrendous stomach bugs - vom and bum explosion central! How I survived the nightmare I do not know! But they slowly reovered in time for our departure. Other events of the week was the wonderful couple in the beach hut next to us trying to save a pup after it had been brutally bitten by another dog.... the vet in town didn't care whatsoever and gave little help in the matter, just stitching up the wounds wihtout cleaning or treating. After 24 hours the poor little thing hadn't perked up and so we made the decision to do what was best for the pup.... We ended up on a mad rickshaw mission trying to find the vet's home, and dragged him to the clinic where we finally laid the little pup to rest. A very sad and emotional time, especially for me after the news of our beautiful Maisy. But did what we could, Martin and Emma being beautiful and patient parents to the pup! The rest of the week was high relaxation and alot of darting in and out of the heat.... my body getting tired of the sun and the sand getting annoying with how it get's everywhere! As lovely as the beach was I was glad when the morning came to leave.... on to proper India, hectic india!
And that is where I shall leave you for now.... Sorry it is rushed.... but just think beautiful beaches, bright blue skies, warm sea water, sunsets that raise the bar each time, fun times of dancing, laughing and mega smiles.... and you'll get a good idea as to how the festive season was spent!
Love to all at home! Miss you more every day.... And you know what? It's not even a year now! In fact it's this year that I will back amongst you all handing out the hugs that are on tap!
Lessons learnt:
Laura B, Anna Banana and Sally T= The Epic Three, truly magical times, emotional journies and a depper bond then you can ever imagine. Thank you girls!
Never jump off a moving train, especially without a ticket!
Every pup is worth trying to save, even if it means it's last 24 hours are the most love filled and caring hours of its life!
Christmas just isn''t chirstmas unless it's at home!
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